STEM Ed Brings Learning, Career Prep to Other Level in Arizona

What would it take to explore an alien spacecraft at the bottom of a lake and rescue 20 abducted town folks before the National Guard steps in?

It’s the stuff of the “X-Files,” but the lessons help push skills students are learning today through STEM education in Arizona.

At this year’s National Underwater Robotics Challenge, held at Chandler High School in early June, teams of students and adults were asked to create a robot that could dive into a high school swimming pool, maneuver into a submerged “space craft” and retrieve objects set around the “X-Files” story theme.

But there’s no science fiction in what the participants – especially the elementary and high school students – were learning.